Metal-bending machine



W. S. MASON.

METAL BENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION F!LED DEC. 18, I920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 11 IHVENTCR.

% 1 ATTORNEYS.

W. S. MASON.

METAL BENDING MACHINE. APPLICATlON man DEC; 18, 1920.

1,418,955. a e e ne 6, 1922.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2t- IP-IVEHTOR.

carries stares 'W'ILLIAM $3. MASON, 01 NORBISTONN, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD .O CHARLES E. HARDING, OF LANLDSDOVJNE, PENNSYLVANIA, AND ONE-THIRD lO HENRY FREDERICKS, GE PHILADELPHIA, TEENNSYLVANIA.

METAL-BENDING MACHINE.

Application filed December 1 T 0 ca Z 1117mm it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM S. MAsoN, a'citizen of the United States, residing at Norristown, county of hlontgomery, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful lmprorements in Metal-Bending Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descrip tion of the invention, such as will enable others skilled. in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in metal bending machines.

The primary aim of the invention has been to devise a simple, durably constructed and efliciently operating machine for bending, into true circular contour, bars of iron or other metal of various shapes incross-section.

In the accomplishment of this end, the particular features of improvement embody a novelly combined arrangement and the manner of mounting, operating and functioning of the bending rollers.

Other objects and advantages of the detailed construction, assembly and functioning of the several elements of the improved combination will be so clearly apparent, as incidental to the following disclosure,'that no useful purpose would be served in further enlarging upon them initially. With these prefacing remarks, therefore, and for a better understanding of the appended claims setting forth the true invention in more succinct form, reference will be immediately had to the accompanying drawings, illustrating a practical. embodiment of the improvements, in which drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of the machine, showing the essential fertures of improvement, but with the main driving belts and control levers omitted; Figure'EZ is a view in side elevation thereof; FigureB is an end elevational. view of the same, looking towards the series of bending rollers of which the adjustable upper roller, hereinafter referred to, is shown in a more or less elevated position relatively to the work engaging peripheries of the lower rollers; Figure 1 is a fragmentary view of the upper adjustable roller and. one of the lower rollers, showing the associated disposition of a channel bar Specification of Letters Patent.

8, 1920. Serial N0. 431,652.

when inserted therebetween for bending, the channel bar appearing in cross-section; and Figure 5 is a view analogous to Fig. 4, but illustrating the application of a fiat bar instead of a channel bar. a

The numeral 6 generally designates the framework of the machine, which includes pedestal mounts 7 for ournaling the shafting of driving pulleys and an associated train of gear wheels, while 8 and 9 are a pair of spaced standard supports for mounting the shafting of the bending rollers as well as certain adj usting mechanism for the upper roller. 10, 11 and 12 respectively designate rotatably mounted shafts, suitably journaled by the standards 8 and 9, each of said shafts projecting at both ends beyond the standards 8 and 9. At their outer ends each of these shafts carry bending roller, of comparatively small diameter relatively to the superposed adjustable roller hereinafter referred to,which smaller rollers are respectively designated by the numerals 13, 1 1- and 15. At their inner ends the shafts 10 and 12 each carry a pinion wheel 16 and 18, respectively, in mesh with an intermediate gear wheel '17, carried by the inner end of the shaft 11., being loosely mounted thereon, or by a separate stud shaft, but in either event it is to be understood that the intermediate gear wheel 1? does not rotate the shaft 11, being an idler wheel with relation thereto, the shaft 11 being driven by other means as hereinafter identified.

The inner end of the shaft 12 may project farther inwardly than that of the shaft 10 and carries a gear wheel 19 that meshes with a pinion 20, which latter is carried by one end of a stud shaft 21journaled by a pair of pedestal mounts 7, the other end of said stud shaft carrying a larger gear wheel 22 meshing with a driving pinion mounted on a driving shaft 2d j ournaled by a pair of the pedestal mounts 7 and carrying the usual set or arrangement of reverse drive pulleys 25, associated with a pair of straight and cross belts, not shown, and operated from any suitable source of power.

The heads or upper portions of the stand ards 8-9 may be of bifurcated construction, and at any event are vertically slotted centrally, as indicated at 26 Figure to provide guideways slidingly receiving suitablebloclts or journal boxes 27, mounting a cross shaft 28. The outer end of this cross shaft projects substantially forward of the front standard 8, and this end carries an upper roller 29, which is centrally superposed relatively to the lower or positively driven rollers 1314-15 and is adjustably supported as an idler pressing roller. The said roller 2. is of substantially greater diameter than each of lower rollers, which latter are of the same diameter, and it is to be noted also that these lower rollers, comprising a group of three, are disposed on their axes, shafts 1011-12, in an arc concentric with the periphery of the larger upper roller 29.

As before stated, the gear wheel 1? is not fast to the shaft 11, but the shaft 11 wit-h the central lower roller 14; are rotated by suitable gearing between one of the shafts 10-12 and the shaft 11, illustrated in the drawings by a silent link belt drive 30 between the shaft 10 and the shaft 11. By this arrangement of the loose intermediate gear wheel 17 and the link belt drive 30, all of the lower rollers 13-1 l15 are caused to ro ate in the same direction, while the upper idler roller 29 is caused to rotate in the re verse direction by the passage of the work, being bent, interposed between the idler roller and the lower rollers.

For ready identification in the claims, the shaft 28 may be conveniently termed a main shaft and the shafts 101112 auxiliary shafts, while the upper roller 29 may be referred to as a pressing roller and the lower rollers 13-14-15 as work guiding rollers, the larger and smaller rollers functioning conjointly as the actual shaping or bending means.

The central work guiding roller 14 is shown as the lowermost of that group, the axis shaft 11 of which is disposed substantially lower than those of the rollers 13 and 15 but lying in the same are, which is concentric with the periphery of the pressing roller .29. Also, the presslng roller 29 is of such a diameter as .to substantially overlap the distantly spaced rollers 13-15, with its axis shaft 28 lying in a plane passing through the axis shaft 11, of the lowermost roller 14, and substantially perpendicular to the imaginary line of j oinder between the rollers 13-915, so that this imaginary line of joinder is the common base of a pair of oppositely disposed isosceles triangles, of different altitudes, whose apices are located atlhe shafts 11-28.

"It is to be observed-that the shaft 28 is in no manner geared up as a driving shaft for the roller 29, permitting of bodily vertical adjustment so that it may be non-rotatably supported with the roller 29 loosely turning thereon, although obviously the roller 29 could be fast to the shaft and the shaft ends journaled in the pair of slidingly mounted elements 27.

31 represent a pair of topping plates sccured to the standards 8-9, across the vertical. slots 26, and providejournal supporting brackets, which may be webbed continuations 32 terminating in bearings that journal a cross shaft 33, operated manually by the hand wheel 3 1, carried thereby, the projecting ends of which shaft mount vertically disposed beveled gear wheels 35, in mesh with complementary horizontally disposed beveled gcar wheels 36 that are centrally apertured and which may provide integrally formed and centrally apertured bosses or hubs 37, rotatably seated on said topping plates 31, in alignment with rod apertures in said topping plates located over said vertical slots 26. Either the central apertures of the horizontal gear wheels or their bosses, or both, are suitably screwthreaded for a purpose immediately appear- 111 lhe elements 27, whether they are merely sliding block supports or journal boxes, dependent upon whether it is deemed desirable to mount the shaft 28 in a non-rotatable or rotatable manner, provide a pair of upwardly projected screw-threaded rods 38;;

that operate through said horizontal gear wheels 36 and their bosses in freely engaging threaded association, from which it will be obvious that, upon turning the hand wheel 34 in reverse directions, the shaft 28 may be adjustably elevated or lowered to correspondingly adjust the pressing roller 29 relatively to the work guiding rollers, which are disposed in the same plane under the pressing roller.

The work guiding rollers are. shown as being provided with a pair of si'lbstantially deep peripheral recesses 40, for receiving the parallel webs of a channel iron, as illustrated at '39 of Figure 4, but this is merely one expedient, and obviously the pressing roller 29 may be congruently formed with such deep recesses also, where for instance the bending of I-beams is to be effected, which arrangmnent would likewise be satis factory in operating on T-beams as well. although in the latter instance only one set of such congruent recesses would actually be required. Analogously, annular grooves of semi-circular cross-section might be formed in either the pressing roller or work guiding rollers, for bending half'round bars, or in both sets of rollers for operating on cylindrical rods or tubes, and in fact the recesses might be of triangular or other formations to meet varying requirements. On the other hand, all of the rollers might have solidly uninterrupted peripheries, where fiat bars exclusively are to be bent. although from Figure 5 it will be apparent that a flat bar -l-1 may be bent circularly even where the rollers are annularly recessed. Furthermore, in the case of channel bars, I-beams, T-irons or analogous formations, instead of employing the peripherally recessed rollers, the same ends would be accomplished by employing plural of suitably spaced-apart rollers, the spaces therebetween functioning the same as the peripherally formed recesses. These statements are merely made incidentally, in an explanatory way, as they are mechanical expediences well understood, it being apparent that, in sofar as my actual invention is concerned, rollers of suitable and varying formations may be interchanged at will, to cover all'of the foregoing and other arising conditions, and whether or not the work is to be curved in what may be termed its fiatwise or edgewise plane.

Operation.

It is believed that the actual operation of the improved machine will be clearly understood from the foregoing complete description, when viewed in connection with the drawings, and that it would serve no useful purpose to set forth the operation in detail; but assuming that a channel or a flat bar is being operated on, as would be indicated at Figs. 4 and 5, and that the right hand side of the machine is being employed as the entrant side of the work, although either side may be employed as such; then the bar being interposed between the work guiding rollers, as a group, and the pressing roller 29, with the work guiding rollers rotating counterclockwise, by the train of gearing and silent link belt arrangement, and the pressing roller actuated. revcrsely by the feed of the bar, it would appear that a true circular bending will be effected, which i ring will have approximately the same diameter as that of the pressing roller or wheel 29, if the latter is adjusted downwardly towards its closest approach with the lowermost roller 14:, as will be permitted by the thickness of the work. A bar of proper length, therefore, will be tlu'ned out in the form of a true annulus, which may serve various useful purposes, such as a combined solid felloe and tread for metallic vehicle wheels, a metallic tire for wooden felloes, or a channeled metallic wheel rim for other forms of tires, etc., etc.

On the other hand, within certain limitations, the adjustability of the pressing roller will provide for a substantially increasing diameter for bars of longer dimensions, which variation may be effected in proportion to the distance that the pressing roller 29 is elevated from the lower central roller 14, but in such cases the roller 14 would in effect become an idler, as the bending would be accomplished by the pressing roller engaging the bar, then spaced slightly from the roller 14. and supported only by the rollers 18 and 15, all. of which will be apparent.

In cases where a flat surface is presented to the pressing roller, and hence the latter need not be annularly grooved, such as lat bar work, channel beams, half rounds, etc., in which last two instances the projecting portions are outward.ly,'the feature just explained may not be so essential, asthe present machine is primarily designed to turn out work of a uniform diameter, which latter may be gauged predeterminately by the employment of a properly dimensioned pressing roller and the three associated work guiding rollers; but in many cases the feature may be found to be distinctly desirable, as with cylindrical bars, I-bars, T-bars, etc., where the pressing roller may have to be annularly recessed to take in the projecting portions, and it would then become e5;- pedient to form the ring slightly greater in diameter than the diameter of the pressing roller, in order to facilely remove the former from the latter when the ring is completely turned therearound.

At any event, when the bending has been completely effected, the hand wheel 3-1 may be turned in the proper direction to elevate the pressing roller a sufficient distance from the work guiding rollers, whereupon the work may be readily removed and the operation repeated upon a newly inserted bar.

In addition to all of the foregoing, it may be finally emphasized that the employment of the three work guiding rollers instead of only two as arranged in some other types of machines, does in itself accomplish a very desirable end not altogether attained with other types of machine, with reference to completing a true circle in the same operation, for by the employment of the three work guiding rollers, as grouped in my improved machine, not only is the main length of the work bent to a true circle, but the very extremities thereof are likewise coincidently formed to contiguously meet at the ends, instead. of slightly flaring apart at the ends in arcs that are not truly coincident with the curvature of the body portion.

IVhile I have thus made a full and complete disclosure of a practical embodiment of my improvements as now practiced, obviously minor modifications might be made thereto without departing from the essential features thereof, and it will be understood, therefore, that I do not necessarily limit myself to the exact details as disclosed, excepting as they may come within the terms of the ensuing claims, or when fairly interpreted in the light of the specification if required.

hat I do claim, as new and paten able, is:

1. In metal bending machines of the charaeter set forth, the combination Oil a ies of three work guiding rollers, a pressing roller operati'vely associated therewith and of substantially greater diameter than said work guiding rollers, the said work guiding rollers being so mounted that portions ot' their peripheries always are disposed in a common tangential are that is also concentric with the periphery of said pressing roller, and means for actuating all of said won; guiding rollers in the same direction of rotation, substantially as described.

2. In metal bending machines of the character set forth, the combination of a "series of three work guiding rollers, a pressing roller operatively associatedwith said work guiding rollers in adjustable relation thereto, the said work guiding rollers being so mounted that portions of their peripheries are always disposed in a common tangential are that is also concentric with the periphery of said pressing roller, means for ad justing said pressing roller towards and away from said work guiding rollers in the same plane, and means for actuating all of said work guiding rollers in the same direction o'l rotation, substantially as described 35. In metal bending machines oil the character set forth, the combination. oi a framework providing a pair oi? spaced upright supports, a main shaft mounted to be \ierti eally adjustable alon said upright supports, a series of three auxiliary shafts journaled by said upright supports and in gea-rto rotate in the same direction, a work guiding roller carried by each of said auxiliary sh afts, a pressing roller carried by said main shaft in operative association with said work guiding rollers, the said auxiliary shafts being so mounted that portions of the peripheries of all of said Work guiding rollers are always disposed in a common tangential are that is also concentric with the periphery of said pressing roller, means for vertically shitting said main shaft to adjust said pressing roller towards and away from said work guiding rollers in the same plane, and driving means for actuating said auxiliary shafts, substantially as described.

In. testimony whereof, I aliix my signature.

WILLIAM ll IAISQl-l. 

